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- Gloucestershire (2277)
- Cheltenham (438)
- Business and Economy (273)
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Gloucestershire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Geography | |
| Status | Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county |
|---|---|
| Origin | Historic |
| Region: | South West England |
| Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area |
Ranked 16th 3,150 km² Ranked 17th 2,653 km² |
| Admin HQ: | Gloucester |
| ISO 3166-2: | GB-GLS |
| ONS code: | 23 |
| NUTS 3: | UKK13 |
| Demographics | |
| Population - Total (2006 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop. |
Ranked 24th 833,100 264 / km² Ranked 21st 578,700 |
| Ethnicity: | 97.3% White |
| Politics | |
 Gloucestershire County Council http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/ |
|
| Executive | Conservative |
| Members of Parliament | |
| Districts | |
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Gloucestershire (pronounced [ˈglɒstəʃə]; GLOSS-ter-sher) listen is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other principal towns include Cheltenham, Stroud, Cirencester, and Tewkesbury.
When considered as a ceremonial county, Gloucestershire borders the preserved county of Gwent in Wales, and in England the ceremonial counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Somerset and Bristol.
According to a 2002 campaign by the charity Plantlife, the county flower of Gloucestershire is the Wild Daffodil[1].
Contents |
Historically, Gloucestershire, The area of South Gloucestershire was made part of the administrative County of Avon in 1974. Upon the abolition of Avon in 1996, it became a unitary authority, and is now part of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire.
The official former postal county abbreviation was "Glos.", rather than the frequently used but erroneous "Gloucs." or "Glouc.".
In July of 2007, Gloucestershire had the worst flooding in recorded British history, with tens of thousands of residents affected. The RAF conducted the largest peace time domestic operation in its history to rescue over 120 residents from flood affected areas. The damage has been estimated at over 2 billion pounds. [2]
The county is recovering rapidly from the disaster, investing in attracting tourists to visit the many sites and diverse range of shops in the area.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Gloucestershire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added[3] | Agriculture[4] | Industry[5] | Services[6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 5,771 | 196 | 1,877 | 3,698 |
| 2000 | 8,163 | 148 | 2,677 | 5,338 |
| 2003 | 10,617 | 166 | 2,933 | 7,517 |
See List of schools in Gloucestershire.
Gloucester has mainly comprehensive schools with seven selective schools; two are in Stroud, one in Cheltenham and four are in Gloucester. There are 41 state secondary schools, not including sixth form colleges, and 12 independent schools, including the renowned Cheltenham Ladies' College. Sixth form provision is good with about two schools in each district not having a sixth form, but the Forest of Dean only has two schools with sixth forms. All schools in South Gloucestershire have sixth forms. School year sizes are not too big, with average size around 140. Tewkesbury district has the largest year sizes. The average number of pupils in England gaining 5 good GCSES including English and Maths is 45.8%; for Gloucestershire LEA's 6800 pupils taking GCSE at 16 it is 53.8, a good performance and the highest in South West England. There is only one bad school in the Cotswold district. The best comprehensive at GCSE is the Balcarras School in Cheltenham with 76%. The worst is the Cheltenham Kingsmead School with 12%, followed by Heywood Community School with 14% in Cinderford. At A level, the county is above the England average. Nearby South Gloucestershire is well under the England average. The best schools at A level are the grammars, with Pate's Grammar School in Cheltenham the best (of all types of school), followed by Sir Thomas Rich's School and High School for Girls, both in Gloucester. The best comprehensive is Wyedean School in Sedbury near Chepstow, although the The Ridings High School comprehensive in Winterbourne in South Gloucestershire gets higher A level results. The best independent school is Cheltenham Ladies' College.
% of pupils gaining 5 grades A-C including English and Maths in 2006:
- Cotswold 59.6
- Gloucester 59.4
- Stroud 57.4
- Cheltenham 53.1
- Tewkesbury 51.7
- Forest of Dean 49.2
- (South Gloucestershire Unitary Authority 44.4)
Gloucestershire has one university, the University of Gloucestershire and one higher and further education college, Gloucestershire College. Each has campuses at multiple locations throughout the county.
- Berkeley Castle, an example of a feudal stronghold.
- Beverston Castle
- Forest of Dean
- Hailes Abbey
- Owlpen Manor
- Sudeley Castle
- Tewkesbury Abbey
- Tyndale Monument
- Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, Slimbridge
The cathedrals of Gloucester and Bristol, the magnificent abbey church of Tewkesbury, and the church of Cirencester with its great Perpendicular porch, are described under their separate headings. Of the abbey of Hailes near Winchcombe, founded by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, in 1246, little more than the foundations are left, but these have been excavated with great care, and interesting fragments have been brought to light.
Most of the old market towns have fine parish churches. At Deerhurst near Tewkesbury, and Bishop's Cleeve near Cheltenham, there are churches of special interest on account of the pre-Norman work they retain. The Perpendicular church at Lechlade is unusually perfect; and that at Fairford was built (c. 1500), according to tradition, to contain the remarkable series of stained-glass windows which are said to have been brought from the Netherlands. These are, however, adjudged to be of English workmanship, and are one of the finest series in the country.
Calcot Barn is an interesting relic of the abbey of Kingswood. Thornbury Castle is a fine Tudor ruin, the pretensions of which evoked the jealousy of Cardinal Wolsey against its builder, Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, who was beheaded in 1521. Near Cheltenham is the fine 15th-century mansion of Southam de la Bere, of timber and stone. Memorials of the de la Bere family appear in the church at Cleeve. The mansion contains a tiled floor from Hailes Abbey. At Great Badminton is the mansion and vast domain of the Beauforts (formerly of the Botelers and others), on the south-eastern boundary of the county. At Owlpen is one of the most picturesque Tudor manor houses set in a densely-wooded valley.
There are several royal residences in Gloucestershire, including Highgrove House, Gatcombe Park, and (formerly) Nether Lypiatt Manor.
- In Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, Colonel White's family estate is in Gloucestershire.
- Laurie Lee's novel Cider with Rosie is set in Gloucestershire.
- Loise Lawrence's apocalyptic novel Children of the Dust begins in Gloucestershire, and the following chapters are presumably set near the destroyed city.
- The movie Hot Fuzz is set in Gloucestershire, in a fictional town called Sandford. It was actually filmed in Somerset in the city of Wells.
- Gloucestershire College
- The Severn Bore
- Annual Cheese Rolling Event
- West Country dialects
- Gloucester Old Spot
- Gloucestershire Regiment
- Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
- Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
- UK topics
- ^ BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3684291.stm, 5 May 2004, retrieved 8 April 2006.
- ^ BBC - News Flood crisis grows as rivers rise
- ^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
- ^ includes hunting and forestry
- ^ includes energy and construction
- ^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
- Gloucestershire County Council
- The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum
- Archaeological Handbook of Gloucestershire by George Witts
- BBC Gloucestershire news and features
- ThisIsGloucestershire - Website of local newspapers the Gloucester Citizen, Gloucestershire Echo and The Forester
- Gloucestershire at the Open Directory Project
